Riverside
Drive Marina, Whangarei.
Sadiqi was hauled out on December 21 at Riverside Drive Marina, Whangarei.
Some
of the cruisers in the marina or on the hard standing:
“Eagles
Wings” Ken and Beth from Chicago
“Kismet”
Dave and Mary from USA
“Second
Wind” Art and Nancy from Seattle, USA
“State
of Mind” Rod and Brenda from Australia
“Sofia”
Jonathan and Anne from UK
“Georgia”
Paul and Chris from Seattle.
“Northern
Rose” Glen and Pat from UK.
“Golden
Age” Herbert from Switzerland.
“Suluk”
Peter from Holand.
“Midnight
Sun” John and Wendy from Australia
“Wakaya”
Gary and Jan from USA
“Katie
M II” Martin and Angela from BC, Canada
“Journey”
Wayne and Dana from Washington State USA.
“White
Hawk” John and Lynette from California.
“Lavinda”
Sven from Norway.
Sadiqi Haulout |
Thanks to the friendly Riverside Drive Marina staff: Karl,
Shane and Louise.
Local environmental rules had to be complied with to scrape and remove heavy metals (copper) in the old
anti-fouling paint. This meant erecting tarpaulins around the boat
and laying drop sheets on the ground to contain the mess. I purchased an Ozito vacuum cleaner to contain the scrapings and dust.
The
work of scraping the anti-foul paint off Sadiqi's bottom continued. It
is a hard and filthy task. I would start early in the morning when it
was cool and stop around midday exhausted.
Sadiqi tarped up and ready to be scraped! |
Scraping the hull |
I replaced all thru hull fittings and sea cocks with Trudesign
composite fittings. These fitting were epoxied into place.
On
February 1 I removed the drop cloths from around Sadiqi having
removed the old anti fouling paint and sanded back to a reasonably
clean surface.
Bare bottom |
March
3 installed the AirHead composting toilet. A small computer/muffin
fan had to be wired in, which runs constantly. I had ordered the
Airhead from Australia, as the local NZ agent couldn't be bothered.
The Australian agents ‘A Better Way to Go” were very helpful and
knowledgeable.
The composting head |
March
10 the rudder was returned after having been split apart, the
stainless steel welds checked and rudder epoxied back together. The workmanship was fine, the creative invoicing was annoying. I was reminded of why I try to do all the work on the
boat myself – why should I pay someone else to stuff things up on
the boat when I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.
March
10 I applied an Epoxy primer coat. Carboguard 504 Marine & GP
Epoxy Primer.
Simon
of SK Painting sprayed Epoxy Barrier coat. Carboguard 640 Immersion
Grade & GP High Build Epoxy.
Epoxy barrier coat |
March
30 I had assistance with applying Copper Coat. I had purchased the
product through Bruce of Manaia Yacht Services. Bruce, Nick and Jan assisted with rolling the 5 coats of copper epoxy.
Sadiqi
had to remain out of the water for at least 4 day after CopperCoat
was applied. The product consists of 1 litre of
solvent-free
epoxy resin mixed with 2 kilos of ultra
fine copper powder.
Rolling on the CopperCoat |
Sadiqi's new copper bottom |
March
7 Sadiqi was floating again much to the relief of the skipper.
Sadiqi re-floated! |
On
May 1 Sadiqi departed Riverside Drive Marina and motored the 15 miles
down river to the Whangarie heads.